Wout van Aert is mostly 'free in his head' after return: 'I don't have those worries now'

Wout van Aert is back in the game. The Belgian of Visma | Lease a Bike made his seasonal debut in his perhaps favorite discipline, cyclocross, in Antwerp on Saturday , eventually rounding out with seventh place. IDL Pro Cycling followed him before, during and after the cyclocross on the Linkeroever. 

'It's always special to arrive back in this discipline, especially since it involves this discipline,' the Belgian revealed prior to the race. Que? 'Because the preparation is a bit different: you are dealing with several bikes and the set-up is just a bit different than with the road bike. It's been a busy week.'

'I still got on the cyclocross bike twice and was able to do a good workout on Wednesday,' said Van Aert, who returned to Belgium earlier because of the bad weather in Spain. 'Normally that's not enough, but I'm going to do my best. In any case, it's cool to be back in Antwerp, on a natural course with a good atmosphere.'

And whether he knew he was back. 'This sport is so tough, it was grueling from the first minute,' was the first thing he could utter - while puffing - afterwards.

The Belgian started his race okay. 'I was hoping there would be room on the outside bend and it turned out that way. I was able to do a good move when coming into the sand, but even there I was already seriously catching my breath. When Mathieu went there, the mind said I had to follow, but my legs didn't want to.'

Van Aert, however, seemed to be riding in the (podium) prizes. 'I think I was competing for the podium, but a flat front tire ruined that result. After the first changeover zone it was a tricky part for flat tires. Maybe I wasn't focused enough for a moment, but I knew right away it was flat when I hit something with my front wheel.'

After that puncture, he did return well, but the fat was off the soup. 'It's not easy these days. I used to come up more often in the second half, but now there are more guys.'

Final conclusion? 'The legs are good, but there is still gain on technique. I hope to polish that. But it was grueling in a fun way. I assume it can still be a step better and that is the intention for the coming weeks.'

'The most important thing is that my head is free: last year in every cross I was exactly still a bit afraid that my knee was going to hurt and I don't have all those worries now. That's nice," the Belgian concluded by mentioning the most important thing he will take back to Herentals. Next appointment? Hofstade, Monday. With Van der Poel.